By GRANT HEWISON, Kensington Swan

With the General Election just a few weeks away, it is worth having a look at what the various political parties currently represented in Parliament have in mind for local government after the elections.

ACT New Zealand has a specific Policy on Local Government. The overall goal is to reduce the rates' burden and ensure local government focuses on core activities. In particular, the policy looks for local government to progressively shed ownership of commercial activities and confine itself to activities such as regulation, flood control and roads.

ACT will look to ensure roads and piped water are supplied on a fully commercial basis and that there is greater scrutiny of regulations that undermine property rights. The policy includes contracting out of council services, lowering the cost of the Resource Management Act and other regulations. It also wants to review the two-tier structure of local government.

While the Green Party doesn’t have a specific local government policy, many of its policies impact on the sector. Of interest are the policies on transport, environment, water, housing and urban and open government. The policy on open government is significant and requires local authorities to publish on the internet: all resource consents and breaches of consents; all applications for consents and a pecuniary interests register for councillors.

Labour has just released its new local government policy and Auckland policy. The local government policy commits Labour to a close and collaborative working relationship with local government. Labour believes local decisions are best made locally, but also wants to ensure local government is responsive, accountable and affordable. The policy sets out specific proposals for a Parliamentary inquiry into the role of local government, restoring democracy in Auckland, reducing legislative compliance costs and making it easier for councils to meet infrastructure challenges. 

Labour will ensure communities are consulted before services are privatised. Labour's Auckland policy looks to address issues of democracy (including legislating the powers of local boards and replacing the Maori statutory board with Maori seats), deliver transport infrastructure, grow Auckland's economy, build strong communities, provide for urban development authorities and ensure Auckland is environmentally sustainable.

The Mana Party doesn’t have a specific local government policy, but some of its policies impact on local government. In particular, the party’s draft environment and energy policy proposes to:

• amend the Resource Management Act to enable the delegation of decision-making powers to hapu and iwi and enable the establishment of partnerships between iwi and councils;

• resource hapu and iwi to develop iwi resource management plans for their territories, with such plans binding local authority decision-making;

• amend all environmental policy statements to ensure iwi are decision-makers alongside local authorities.

The main plank of the local government and resource management policy of the Maori Party is for local government to acknowledge the authority of mana whenua. The policy proposes amending the Local Government and Resource Management Acts to require local authority to work with mana whenua, including establishing effective strategies for engaging Maori communities and advancing Maori representation (e.g. through STV and/or Maori constituencies).

Other policy initiatives include water ownership in fresh water being resolved in the review of the Resource Management Act and establishing an appropriate basis for valuing Maori land for rating purposes.

While the National Party doesn’t have a specific local government policy, there is nonetheless a lot affecting local government in National’s overall policy priorities. Specifically, it can be expected National will continue to pursue issues raised in the central local government forum, such as improving regulatory performance, reducing costs and operating more efficiently and effectively. John Key’s speech to the 2011 LGNZ conference also carried some insights – commitment to rebuilding Canterbury and further community-led (as opposed to central government-led) governance changes.

United Future’s local government policy includes a number of specific initiatives: an increase in the government local roading subsidy to 80 per cent; a review aiming to abolish rates on residential and commercial properties; incentivising a reduction in the number of territorial authorities; shared services; regular reviews of the RMA and regional council performance; collecting EQC and fire levies through rates; expanding the Sanitary Works Subsidy Scheme; addressing low voter participation through education; and supporting the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs.

Not to be forgotten will be the referendum on MMP. While there does not appear to have been a thorough analysis, MMP appears to have resulted in more MPs with a local government pedigree. Overall, it has resulted in a Parliament that is more diverse and more representative of local communities – that’s got to be good for local government.

And finally, with Hon Rodney Hide leaving Parliament, the sector is assured of a new Minister of Local Government, most likely with an agenda for reform. An interesting new year awaits.

(Grant Hewison is a senior associate at Kensington Swan and specialises in local government issues. www.kensingtonswan.com)